


More Than Just Business

by Mia_Vaan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Gen, Katooni and Petro are only mentioned, Missing Scene, The Character Death is only mentioned, and deep down he misses all his jedi friends, i like to think that Hondo basically became Katooni's dad, i really wish Ahsoka had met Hondo again, ooc Hondo but only because he's drunk, this got way angster than I thought it would
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24669007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mia_Vaan/pseuds/Mia_Vaan
Summary: He stank of booze, and Ahsoka wrinkled her nose at the scent. She ignored it and focussed on the bigger issue, namely that a very drunk Hondo was acting like she was his long-lost friend.Missing scene from season 2 of Rebels, set sometime after "Brothers of the Broken Horn".
Relationships: CT-7567 | Rex & Ahsoka Tano, Hondo Ohnaka & Ahsoka Tano, Katooni & Hondo Ohnaka (mentioned)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 147





	More Than Just Business

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Star Wars is the property of Lucasfilm and Disney. I'm just playing in their sandbox. 
> 
> There are so many characters I want Ahsoka to meet. Luke, Leia, Han, the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan and Anakin... But all these meetings are ones that are likely to happen in comics or on TV or even in a short like Forces of Destiny. The one meeting/reunion I don't think will happen is with Hondo, because it's not as important. So I wrote one. 
> 
> I also included my own headcanon as to what I think happened to a couple of the younglings. Enjoy!

As Ahsoka approached the open ramp of the _Ghost_ , a familiar laugh filled the air and almost made her pause. She _knew_ that laugh, and while she didn’t dread it, she certainly wasn’t keen on reuniting with the pirate who had caused more than enough trouble for the Jedi back in the Clone Wars.

But then there were worse people she could meet than Hondo Ohnaka. A lot worse. So, she kept walking. When she appeared in the light of the ship, she saw that Hondo wasn’t alone.

Just at the top of the ramp, the Weequay pirate was sat on a crate with some sort of alcoholic beverage in his hand, and from the way he was swaying slightly, it was clear he was drunk, or close to it. Ezra was sat on another crate, hanging off of every word Hondo was saying. And leaning against the ship’s wall was Kanan, arms crossed, completely unamused by the pirate’s antics.

“…so, I said to him, ‘That depends on your definition of civilized’, and the dear old Count thought he was smarter than me. _Me_!” Hondo hit himself in the chest and almost fell off the crate. “That’s the problem with those powerful Sith Lords: they always underestimate the people they think are beneath their notice. I made sure he’d never make _that_ mistake again, and captured him! It was a very daring endeavour, if I do say so myself. So, I offered to ransom him off to the Republic, and they sent my dear old friends Kenobi and Skywalker…”

Ahsoka tried not to flinch at the mention of her former master. She halted at the bottom of the ramp and watched the exchange with her arms crossed.

She knew Kanan had sensed her the moment she entered the hanger, and he didn’t react to her appearance. Ezra was absorbed in the story, so didn’t notice her until he reached out to stop Hondo from toppling off the crate. His eyes lit up. “Hey, Ahsoka!”

Hondo straightened himself up and looked her way, his eyes narrowed. “It cannot be…”

“What’s the matter, Hondo?” she said. “Can’t remember the Jedi you kidnapped that one time?”

“Wait…” Ezra looked between them. “Do you guys know each other? And when did he kidnap you?”

Ahsoka didn’t get the chance to reply to him.

Hondo suddenly brightened up in a way she hadn’t seen before. “Tano! It _is_ you!” He leapt up out of his seat, half-ran half-fell down the ramp and embraced her, catching her completely off-guard. “You’re alive! I knew one of you _had_ to be alive!”

He stank of booze, and Ahsoka wrinkled her nose at the scent. She ignored it and focussed on the bigger issue, namely that a very drunk Hondo was acting like she was his long-lost friend. By the Force, it sounded like he was on the verge of _crying_ , which was very unlike him.

“Great! It sounds like you two have a lot of catching up to do!” Kanan called down to them. He placed his hand on Ezra’s shoulder, intending to lead his Padawan away. He also gave Ahsoka an apologetic look, and she understood what he was doing; he wanted to get Ezra away from Hondo. Ahsoka agreed that the pirate wouldn’t be a very good influence for him.

“We’ll be fine,” she assured the two Jedi. “Ezra, you should go back to your training.”

Ezra looked like he was going to protest, before deciding against it. He followed Kanan deeper into the ship.

When they were gone, Ahsoka pulled back from Hondo and led him over to a stack of crates close to the ship. He leaned against her, one arm around her shoulders. “It is so good to see you again, my Jedi friend!”

“I’m not a Jedi anymore.” Ahsoka dropped him onto a crate and sat down on another opposite him. She couldn’t help but smile a little at him; she had to admit that it was nice to see another familiar face from her past, even if that familiar face was a pirate who’d threatened her more often than not. “I didn’t think you were alive after the Empire wiped out the Ohnaka gang,” she admitted.

The pirate barked a laugh. “It takes more than an Empire to get the best of Hondo Ohnaka!” He took a swig of his drink. “Tell me, what became of the other Jedi? Kenobi? Skywalker?”

“Dead.” It was all she could tell him. While Bail Organa had confirmed Obi-Wan’s death, she had a feeling that it was a lie in order to protect him, wherever he was hiding. She had never tried to find him for that reason, not wanting to lead the Empire to his location. As for Anakin… How could she tell _anyone_ , let alone Hondo, what she suspected? She couldn’t even bring herself to tell _Rex_.

Hondo sighed. The sombre mood looked _wrong_ on him. He rested his arms on his knees and let the bottle dangle between his legs. “I am… semi-speechless.”

“I think there are other Jedi out there, besides Kanan and Ezra,” Ahsoka told him. She suspected Master Yoda was alive, and there had to be a few more. At least, she hoped there was.

For a moment, the pirate was silent. He took another swig from his bottle and let his jovial attitude retreat. Then he said, “There was another. Long gone.”

Ahsoka looked at him in surprise. “Who?”

He sighed again, gearing himself up for the story. “I found her in the aftermath of that… Order 66, as you call it. Her escape pod was picked up by some of my men, and they brought her to me. I recognised her immediately. It was one of the younglings you chaperoned.” He hesitated to say her name. “Katooni.”

“I remember her.” It hurt to remember the younglings she’d looked after. They wouldn’t have stood a chance against the clones, and she couldn’t fathom how terrified they must have been.

“Her master died so she could escape,” Hondo continued. “Her friends were gone, her home was gone… Naturally, I took her in. Having a Jedi around was good business.”

Ahsoka could tell by the lack of his cheery attitude that Katooni had become more to him than just a business asset. She dared to think that the Tholothian Jedi youngling had become like a daughter to him. “Even when the Empire was offering a huge ransom for the location of any and all Jedi?”

“Bah!” He waved his arms to show his disapproval. “The Empire was bad for business! I knew they couldn’t be bargained with like reasonable people. But having a Jedi around was a good long-term investment. There were… _some_ members of my crew who disagreed. Tried to sell her out. So, I killed them to protect my interests.”

Or killed them to protect the closest thing he’d had to a daughter. But Ahsoka didn’t voice her thoughts. She knew Hondo would just deny them. “Is that why the gang was wiped out? The Empire found out about her?”

“They slaughtered most of my men,” said Hondo. “Those who remained struck out on their own. Tooni and I stayed together. I taught her everything I knew about being a pirate; how to lie, how to cheat, how to steal…”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. “Charming.”

“I taught her how to _survive_ in a galaxy that would chew her up and spit her out!” Hondo argued. “Don’t tell me you haven’t done some… shall we say, _questionable_ things in order to survive?”

She had. But not to the extent that Hondo was implying. Still, she couldn’t fault him for doing his best to keep Katooni alive in a galaxy that wanted her dead.

“What happened, Hondo?” She didn’t want to ask, but had to. Because if Katooni wasn’t with him…

He stared at the floor. “Ten years, we were a team. I was so… proud of her. But then the Empire figured out what she was. And they sent… _him_ after us.”

“Vader?”

The pirate shook his head. “Her friend. _Former_ friend. It was that Corellian boy.”

Ahsoka went still, unable to contemplate what she was hearing. “Petro?” Of course, she’d heard of former Jedi being turned into Inquisitors. The Grand Inquisitor had been a Temple Guard. And though it hurt to think about, she suspected that Barriss Offee was the Seventh Sister. But to picture one of the younglings as an Inquisitor, driven to the dark side by the Empire…

He had reminded her of Anakin. After her mission with the younglings, she’d considered taking on Petro as a Padawan after she was knighted, something which of course hadn’t happened due to her leaving the Order.

“They fought several times,” Hondo continued. “And Tooni… She confessed to me that Petro and his master were with her during Order 66. She hadn’t told me exactly what happened before, because she was ashamed. When the clones attacked them, she was so terrified that she ran and left the boy behind. He didn’t let her forget that.” He shrugged. “I think she made the smart choice, but what do I know? I’m just a pirate, not a Jedi.”

“We all make mistakes,” said Ahsoka. She found that while she didn’t agree with them, she understood Katooni’s actions. One so young, being faced with the horror of Order 66… Even for a youngling who had been trained as a Jedi, something like that would be hard to stand against. Most children would panic and flee.

Hondo finished off his drink. He clearly didn’t want to be sober for this story. “She got it in her head that she could make him good again. I told her she was a fool… and she told me she’d learnt from the best. I am an old fool, for letting her…”

He looked at the empty bottle before throwing it across the hanger. Ahsoka caught it with the Force before it could smash against the wall, and lowered it down to the floor.

“There was a fire,” he continued. “The building we were hiding in was unstable. They were fighting with their laser swords; fighting so fast it was hard for me to keep track. I ran to help. I was prepared to blast that boy into the Unknown Regions! But she pushed me back. Pushed me all the way outside. And somehow, she kept me out there. The last words I heard her say… She told the boy that she wasn’t going to leave him again. And she didn’t. The building collapsed on top of them both. But she succeeded. When I… dug through the rubble, I found them holding one another in their last moments. I buried them together.”

Ahsoka felt the tears trickle down her cheeks. She didn’t wipe them away. “I’m sorry, Hondo. If I had known…”

He waved away her apology, trying to reclaim his jovial attitude. And failing. “She died as a Jedi, like she would have wanted. I… I never told Ezra or his master about this. I don’t think I could.”

She nodded, understanding. “It’s your story to tell. I won’t say anything to anyone.”

“I’ve been thinking about naming a ship after her, once I find one worthy of her name.” He was staring at the _Ghost_ , swaying back and forth. The pirate ended up slipping off the crate and onto the floor, where he started to drift off. Before he did, he turned back to her. “Oh, Ahsoka Tano.”

“Yes, Hondo?”

“No matter what you might think, you are still a Jedi.”

And then he was asleep, snoring loudly.

Ahsoka wiped away her tears when she heard someone approaching, but relaxed when she saw that it was only Rex. “Did Kanan send you?”

“I came to see if you were alright,” he said. “I didn’t know you liked talking to washed-up old relics.”

“Says the washed-up old relic I’m talking to right now.”

“Very funny. You coming in?”

“Later.” She nodded to Hondo. “I wanna make sure our pirate friend doesn’t cause any trouble. If anyone can do it in his sleep, its Hondo.”

Rex chuckled and took a seat on the crate next to her. They sat in companionable silence, allowing Ahsoka time with her thoughts.

It was likely that Hondo wouldn’t remember their conversation in the morning. He’d probably just go back to being his jovial self, swindling and annoying everyone around him. Which, oddly enough, suited Ahsoka just fine. It was nice to know that some things in the galaxy never changed.

And she could at least confirm to herself that as greedy and amoral as Hondo could be, there were some things that meant more to him than just business. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. :) 
> 
> If anyone is feeling generous, please can you go and give some love and/or constructive criticism to my other Star Wars story 'Dark Paradise'. It hasn't received much attention, and I don't know if it's because it still needs more work, or people aren't interested in reading about a one-time comics characters.


End file.
